The problem of toe damage in shoes is often severe. Certain kinds of activities, those in which the toe end of the wearer's shoes in kicked against some article or obstacle or is dragged over the ground or floor tends to cause separation of shoe components in the region of the toe.
This problem is particularly prevalent in shoes that are worn in the conduct of sports activities. One example is socker playing. In that game, the shoe toe is used again and again to kick a ball. Another example is the sport of bowling. Bowlers usually drag the toe of one shoe over the floor as a part of throwing the ball. That practice, and the economic circumstances that attend the sport, combine to make shoe damage a major and expensive problem.
It is customary for bowlers to wear leather soled shoes similar to men's street shoes and designed to facilitate ball throwing and protection of the bowling alley and bowling alley floor area at the head of the alley. Many bowlers provide their own bowling shoes, but almost all bowling alley establishments maintain a supply of bowling shoes that patrons can rent and, lacking a suitable pair of their own, are required to rent.
The need to discourage theft, the desire to minimize the investment in a stock of shoes, and other factors combine to the end that almost all rental shoes are less than maximum quality products. Rental shoes receive hard use and the result, more often than not, is limited life because of damage in the region of the toe. The upper separates from the slipsole, the slipsole separates from the sole, or both. The former defect is the most difficult to repair.
The need to minimize the cost of bowling shoes and the low volume of bowling shoes relative to street shoes have tended to make the production of special designs economically unattractive. Men's shoe making machinery is made to produce what have become conventional shoe forms. The prospect of increased cost discourages the adoption of any design which requires the use of different machines, either at the time of original production or at the time of repair.